NAF Commissions Senior Officers’ Building in Abuja
As part of continued efforts geared towards improving the welfare of personnel of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) for effective and efficient service delivery, the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar on 4 February 2019, commissioned 5 newly renovated buildings for Senior Non-commissioned Officers (NCOs) at the NAF Base, Bill Clinton Drive, Abuja.
The blocks of flats, which had been in varying states of disrepair prior to the assumption of office by the current NAF leadership, were renovated with the aim of sustaining maintenance culture and prudent management of resources in the NAF.
Speaking during the event, the CAS, who was represented by the Director of Administration, Headquarters NAF, Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Nelson Calmday, stated that prior to July 2015, records in the Administration Branch indicated that the NAF had 45 per cent sufficiency of accommodation for personnel.
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However, as at December 2018, accommodation sufficiency in the NAF had increased to 65 per cent with an additional 3 per cent of personnel receiving lodging allowances. The CAS noted that the 68 per cent accommodation sufficiency rate recorded within three and half years was achieved despite the fact that an unprecedented number of personnel, over 7,500 airmen/airwomen and 400 officers, had been recruited into the NAF within the period.
Air Marshal Abubakar stated that the momentum of infrastructural development would be sustained to ensure that personnel are adequately accommodated in order to be more effective in the performance of their duties. He urged the beneficiaries of the renovated accommodations to put them to good use whilst ensuring they are properly maintained.
Earlier in his remarks, the Commander 053 Headquarters NAF Camp, Air Commodore Abubakar Yusuf, thanked the CAS for always placing premium on the welfare of personnel. He noted that welfare related projects that had been executed in Abuja included the establishment of a new NAF Base at Asokoro, Abuja in March 2017, as well as the construction of new accommodation blocks at the Bill Drive NAF Base.
He noted that these actions had drastically reduced the accommodation challenges facing personnel in Abuja. As a result, he said, virtually all airmen/airwomen who were formerly living in rented accommodation had been relocated into the barracks.
The Commander disclosed that work would soon commence on the renovation of the NAF blocks in Mogadishu Cantonment as well as 3 more blocks and major roads at the NAF Base, Bill Clinton Drive, Abuja, which had been approved by the CAS.
IBIKUNLE DARAMOLA
Air Commodore
Director of Public Relations and Information
Nigerian Air Force
